I use my computer for so many things and I have about 200 applications on my computer. I don’t know why, but it bothers me that everything happens on this one machine as well as seeing so many app icons (even grouped into folders). It’s not an option, but I’d prefer to have dedicated computers for broad categories of tasks (Audio DAW, video editing, bash scripting, web dev, gaming, system stuff like disk space visualisation, web apps for social media and video sites, games, communications, office, music and film.
So I was thinking of installing something like openSUSE in a VM on my iMac. But I’m not sure if it’s a good idea. Putting CPU intensive applications onto the VM is pointless since they’ll struggle more. But putting convenient apps on the VM seems like a mistake too because it means that quick utilities like calendar, voice memos, alarms, contacts etc become inconvenient.
Anyway. I miss the days when all these functions weren’t service by the same hardware and screen. Does anyone who can relate have any ideas?
One thing I’ve done is have my music served by Navidrome on a headless server.
but I’d prefer to have dedicated computers for broad categories of tasks (Audio DAW, video editing, bash scripting, web dev, gaming, system stuff like disk space visualisation, web apps for social media and video sites, games, communications, office, music and film.
those are not broad categories
You want workspaces.
https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/work-in-multiple-spaces-mh14112/mac
I like them but they organise applications that are already opened. The dock icons stay the same on each workspace and the desktop icons are the same too.
qubes os is for you. Don’t be scared by it as you can start using it without paying attention to many of its security features like disposables, proxy vms, etc. Just think of it as several vms with a shared clipboard, file sharing mechanism and a convenient apps menu. You can learn later it most advanced stuff
Oh cool, that does sound interesting. Thanks!
I have about 200 applications on my computer
How many do you actually use?
Many of them only get used once per year, but when I’m asked to produce something with them I need to be ready.
Anything I haven’t used in a year gets archived, generally. something like FTP clients (which I rarely use) have passwords etc stored so I don’t want to get rid of those because the setup again would be tedious.
There are about 30 Apple apps that are built in that I’d love to get rid of but can’t, eg Stocks and Chess. They can’t be uninstalled.
I’m afraid to ask, how often do you reboot your computer?
Haha, every two or three days.
I would focus on having a solid backup strategy. Segmenting applications on different VM’s makes more sense in a data center when one application can serve an entire organization. For your personal workstation, it’s just going to add a lot of unnecessary overhead.
